Concludes Partnership Agreement for Contract Development and Manufacturing of Regenerative Medicine Products

November 09, 2017

FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Kenji Sukeno) has signed an agreement to invest 390 million yen accepting a third-party allocation of shares in the regenerative medicine venture company Cyfuse Biomedical K.K. Cyfuse Biomedical aims to commercialize regenerative medicine products harnessing 3-D tissue fabrication technology. The investment procedures will be completed on November 10. Concurrent with the investment, Fujifilm also signed a partnership agreement on the contract development and manufacturing of regenerative medicine products. Through this investment and partnership agreement, Fujifilm will gain access to the technology and know-how developed by Cyfuse Biomedical in the field of 3-D tissue fabrication, while also accelerating in-house research and development into its own regenerative medicine products by applying the technology. Fujifilm will also expand its contract development and manufacturing business of regenerative medicine products for culturing cells, producing 3-D tissues, and providing consulting services on pharmaceutical affairs for Cyfuse Biomedical's regenerative medicine products.

Currently, research and development is in progress on determining optimum methods for cell-based therapies suitable for each condition. The method of fabricating 3-D tissue from cells and transplanting the fabricated tissue into patients appears to have greater potential efficacy in treating a broad range of conditions, compared to the administration of cells only, and as such interest in this technology is growing. Cyfuse Biomedical has established a proprietary technology platform for fabricating live cells into any 3-D shape. The company has already developed a 3-D cell printer Regenova®, a device which automates the process of 3-D tissue fabrication. The device is currently on sale to various customers, particularly academic institutions in Japan and abroad. By utilizing the technology Cyfuse Biomedical is also developing regenerative medicine products for bone and cartilage, vascular and nerves.

Fujifilm has developed “recombinant peptide” (RCP), a proprietary scaffolding material used for culturing cells, leveraging the collagen technology developed through its photographic film research. Fujifilm has already succeeded in greatly increasing the survival rate of cells inside structural bodies through the fabrication of CellSaic*, a three-dimensional cell structure made from the micro-sized petaloid fragments of RCP. Through this investment and partnership agreement, Fujifilm will access the proprietary technology and know-how Cyfuse Biomedical possesses and will work to apply the technology to Fujifilm’s own regenerative medicine products. Specifically, Fujifilm intends to fabricate CellSaic into any shape by utilizing the Cyfuse Biomedical 's technology and know-how, and efficiently create 3-D tissues with more complex shapes. In addition, Fujifilm intends to accelerate the research and development of its own regenerative medicine products by using such fabricated 3-D tissues. Furthermore, Japan Tissue Engineering Co., Ltd. (J-TEC), a Fujifilm group company and the first company in Japan to develop and market regenerated medicine products, will be contracted to develop and manufacture regenerative medicine products from Cyfuse Biomedical, and work to expand this business.

Fujifilm is working to accelerate the research and development of in-house regenerative medicine products through the achievement of synergies between the highly functional materials technology and engineering technology accumulated over long years of photographic film research, the therapeutic cell production technology of J-TEC, the world-leading iPS cell-related technology and know-how of CDI and the expertise in media held by Wako Pure Chemical Industries. In addition, the company is also working to contribute to the elevation of the regenerative medicine by expanding the contract development and manufacturing business of regenerative medicine products and media business.

* CellSaic is a three-dimensional cell mosaic that combines cells and scaffolding. The name is derived from the phrase “cell and scaffolding forming mosaic.”